Prophylaxis against Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting in Patients undergoing Laparoscopic Abdominal Surgeries with Gabapentin alone and Gabapentin-Dexamethasone and their Comparison with Ondansetron

SUMMARY Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is frequently encountered after laparoscopic abdominal surgeries done under general anaesthesia. The available prophylactic agents against PONV have various side effects and have no analgesic property. Therefore we aimed to study the antiemetic effect of Gabapentin and its combination with Dexamethasone against Ondansetron.120 patients were randomly divided into three groups. Group A received Gabapentin orally, Group B received i. v. dexamethasone in addition to oral Gabapentin and Group C received Ondansetron i. v. as control. Incidence of nausea and vomiting, requirement of rescue antiemetic and analgesic were noted in the first 24 hours of postoperative period. Group B and C had less incidence of PONV than group A. There was less requirement of additional analgesic requirement in Group A and B than in Group C. So combination of Gabapentin and Dexamethasone can be an effective and safe alternative of Ondansetron for the management of PONV.